Viktor Gyökeres reflected on Arsenal’s defeat to Aston Villa after the hosts scored a final-minute goal, admitting it was a painful and difficult result for Arsenal to accept.
Matty Cash had put the hosts ahead at Villa Park, but Arsenal’s resilience kept the fight alive as Leandro Trossard pulled the Gooners level. For a moment, it looked like Arsenal would be heading back to North London with a valuable point.
However, Arsenal suffered late heartbreak when Emi Buendia guided the ball into the net in the dying moments, bringing an end to Arsenal’s 18-game unbeaten run across all competitions. Viktor admitted the atmosphere in the dressing room was understandably down, but he also made it clear that the desire is already there to move on to the next match and begin building another long unbeaten streak for the Gooners.
“We are, of course, disappointed with the result,” Gyokeres said. “It’s not a great feeling right now, but it’s only December, and there are a lot of games to play.”
“You can always find some positives, but it’s still a very difficult way to lose a football game. It’s tough right now, but we’ll look forward to the next one soon.”
Even though Aston Villa had lost only once in their previous 25 home fixtures, Arsenal continuously bombarded their goal in a frantic, end-to-end clash. Emiliano Martinez had to produce nine saves to keep the Gooners from breaking through.
Viktor believes that Arsenal can take real positives from the performance going into the upcoming fixtures, noting that on another day it might have been the Gooners celebrating a memorable victory. Instead, he hopes Arsenal learn from the setback and turn the disappointment into motivation for the challenges ahead.
“We have to keep creating chances and getting shots on goal because then you’ll eventually score more goals,” the Swedish striker added. “So yes, that’s of course a positive, and we just need to do things in between also a bit better.”
“It’s football. If you score in the last few seconds or minutes, that is an unbelievable feeling, so it goes both ways. Today, unfortunately, it was the other way. It’s tough, but you learn from it.”
“If we focus on what we can control and do in our favor and focus on the next game, we’ll be better, I think.”
